Baseball: Rally falls short at Shakopee

Talk about it

The visiting Tigers didn’t quit, and ended up putting a scare into second-place Shakopee Friday afternoon.

The Tigers overcame an early 6-0 deficit and ended up tying the score at 6-6 before falling, 7-6, in eight innings.

“We got down six early and did a great job of fighting back,” coach Mike Winters said. “That’s one thing we needed to improve on, playing better from behind.”

Winters also hopes his team can improve on the four walks and six fielding errors that accounted for five unearned Shakopee runs on Friday.

“Our pitchers did a good job of getting ahead, we just can’t continue to pile up walks and errors in the same inning,” he said. “It’s a killer.”

It was two Shakopee walks and an error that set up John Stibal’s three-run double, which cut the difference in half in the top of the fifth.

The score was still 6-3 when Merle and Graham started the seventh with back-to-back singles. Baer followed with a two-run double to make it 6-5 and scored the tying run on Vincent’s double.

Eich started on the mound and allowed six runs (two earned) while walking five over the first 3 2/3 innings. Luskey came in and held the Sabers to one unearned run over the final four innings.

Farmington 7,

Northfield 2

A strong start from Jonathan Ellis led the Tigers to their second straight win Thursday in Northfield.

Ellis held the Raiders scoreless over the first six innings and allowed just four hits while striking out eight. He retired one batter in the seventh before Luskey came in to record the final two outs.

The Tigers got all the runs they would need when they plated three runs in the second. Korbein, Merle and Baskerville set the table with three straight singles and Graham followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0.

Ellis got some breathing room on the mound when the Tigers scored four two-out runs in the top of the fourth. Baskerville got the inning started with a single and Graham and Baer followed with walks, setting up a two-run double by Wallace. Two more runs came across on a Payne double to make it 7-0.

Farmington finished with nine hits, including a 4-for-4 effort by Baskerville.

Farmington 10,

Holy Angels 6

Holy Angels was a different team without Lucas Long on the mound.

Long threw a five-inning perfect game in a 12-0 Stars victory over Farmington on April 12. With Long in left field for the second Missota Conference matchup between the two teams last Tuesday, the Tigers reached double figures for the first time this season and ended their six-game losing skid with a 10-6 victory in Farmington.

“We had some two-out rallies and strung together some hits, which hasn’t been a regular occurrence for us this season,” Winters said.

The Tigers trailed 3-0 after half an inning, but responded with three of their own in the bottom of the frame. Baer brought in the first two with a double and Korbein followed with an RBI single to tie the score.

An inning later, run-scoring singles by Graham and Vincent gave the home team a 5-3 lead.

The score was 5-5 before the Tigers batted around and plated four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Payne, Wallace and Eden each ripped doubles during the rally and Baskerville added a two-run single.

Morris picked up the pitching win in relief of Merle, holding Holy Angels to two earned runs and striking out three in three innings of work. Graham allowed one run while getting the final six outs.

Tags: sports, farmington, tigers, prep, baseball